


Making Christmas

by flightinflame



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Christmas Fluff, M/M, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-12
Updated: 2014-12-12
Packaged: 2018-03-01 05:43:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2761781
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flightinflame/pseuds/flightinflame
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Phil wants to make Christmas happen, even if the rest of the team aren't so keen.  He has a role planned for each of them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Making Christmas

Last year, Christmas had been pretty good from Phil's perspective. He had got to spend some time with Natasha and Clint, cooked a meal for the two of them, exchanged a few small gifts. Clint had adored decorating the tree, and Natasha had taken a silent pleasure in carving intricate paper snowflakes. It had been good.

This year though, things were a bit different, and that was hard. They had moved - they weren't in their tiny little apartment anymore. They were in the beautiful monstrosity of Stark Tower, and there were people in their lives they never could have expected. But as Christmas crept closer, no one even mentioned decorations. Meetings as a team came and went, and no one mentioned the season approaching. Now there were only four days left, and no one had made a move.

It wasn't that it was complete apathy - that, he would respect. No-one should be forced to celebrate Christmas. But after all the years of excitement, Clint hadn't mentioned it, and nor had Natasha. Clint's face still lit up with sheer joy as he went past displays of Christmas decorations, shop windows festooned with colour and brightness and joy. Steve's gaze lingered a little too long on the rows of Christmas cards that were lined up on Sam's mantelpiece when he had the team over for dinner, and Natasha would slow a little if they passed a choir so she could hear them sing for a few more seconds. But none of them made any kind of move towards planning Christmas.

Eventually, Phil couldn't stand it anymore. Whatever the team had? It was the closest any of them had had to a family for a long time, and he didn't want to see them waste it over whatever it was that they were caught up in. It was Tony's house, and that helped him decide what he needed to do first.

He made his way over to Tony's workshop, knocking on the glass doors and waiting to be let in. The glass doors slid open and slowly, he made his way inside, glancing around. Tony was hard at work, sat on a bench with his face creased in concentration as he fiddled with his gauntlet. On the other side of the bench, curled up slightly with his sketchbook against his lap, Steve was sitting and drawing.

"Hey..." Steve greeted him gently. Coulson flashed him a brief smile before approaching Tony.  
"Can we talk?"  
"Apparently." Tony muttered around the screwdriver in his mouth. "You seem to be talking, so we can, so what is it?"  
"I want to sort out Christmas."  
"Huh? You don't... alright, what do you mean by that?" Tony asked, putting the screwdriver down and looking up at him. "You can't just say things like that without an explanation, what do you mean?"

"I mean I want us to have Christmas as a team. I've been avoiding saying anything, but so has everyone else, and now it's nearly Christmas."  
"It's a nice idea Agent." Tony had the screwdriver back in his hand now, and was gesturing with it. "But no one other than you wants it. No one else is interested."

"Well, I am." Phil pushed on. He was used to Tony, could tell when he was getting annoyed. This right here was closer to exasperation than actual annoyance. "And I don't think I'm the only one Tony. Everyone is waiting for someone else to start."  
"So you want me to organise Christmas? Because really, I shouldn't organise anything, that is literally why I have Pepper. I could call her and get her to sort it for you if you want..." Tony frowned. "Hey, Steve, don't glare, Pepper's been working hard... It's not that huh?"  
"No." Steve frowned, and he was speaking in his best 'disappointed Captain America voice', the one that even Phil feared. "I just think that if we're having a team Christmas, we should have it as a team? Pepper can come of course, but this should be on us."

"Look what you did Agent." Tony turned back to Phil. "You disappointed Captain America. Look, if it'll help? I'll see if I can sort out some lights, not the tree, just the rest of it. That can be my contribution, because it... it involves electricity, and I'm good at that. I won't mess it up."

Steve reached out to hold Tony's hand.  
"You won't mess it up." The look that passed between them was so private that Phil decided to slip away. He could catch Steve later, what mattered now was that Christmas was happening.

"Excuse me Agent Coulson?" Jarvis's polite voice came through the nearest speaker. "I could organise a gift exchange if you'd like."  
"That'd be good, thank you Jarvis." Phil answered, before pulling his phone from his pocket and beginning to make a list.

He was determined that every member of the Avengers would have a role to play in the Christmas celebrations. He wanted to include the entire team, to make it a really special day for all of them. Once he had potential roles for every one of them, he went to find Thor.

The Asgardian was sat on the couch, staring at a comedy on the television that took up most of the opposite wall. He had a slight frown on his face.  
"Hello Thor."  
"Hello Son of Coul." Thor greeted him with a broad smile. "Does something bother you?"  
"Nothing is bothering me Thor, I just want to sort out Christmas... is there something on your mind?"

"Just that I miss Jane." Thor said softly. "She is going to visit her parents for the holidays, and she doesn't think it's the right time for me to meet them...and so I am without her for almost a week."  
"I see." Coulson smiled, his heart going out to the other man. It was hard to be without your lover this time of year. "Well, perhaps you can join in with the team celebrations."  
"There will be team celebrations?"  
"There will be." Coulson said with a smile. "And I've been thinking about your role... perhaps you can find a tree for us to decorate."

"A tree?"  
"It will be in the centre of the celebration." Phil tried to explain. "We will put the presents under it before giving them to each other."  
"I should be honoured Son of Coul." Thor answered with a brighter smile. His earlier concerns seemed to have faded, and he was calmer.

Coulson left him, then went to corner Bruce. He was delighted to do the cooking, and agreed to ask Steve to help with the turkey. That only left the two agents.

Romanoff first, and he found her in the gym, punching at a punching bag.  
"I've decided we are having Christmas this year." Phil announced, and Natasha smiled.  
"You sorted jobs for all of us?"  
"Of course." Coulson smiled. "Can't have anyone not contributing. You know your job?"  
"Eggnog?"  
"Eggnog of both super-human and human varieties, and then perhaps you could also look at music..."  
"Music sounds good." Natasha agreed with a smile. "I can do that. So what about Clint?"

"He's got his favourite." Coulson agreed, leaving Natasha and heading out to find Clint. Clint was in the range, but he relaxed as Phil stepped in behind him, wrapping him in his arms and holding him close.  
"Hey beautiful."  
"Hey Clint." Phil kissed him gently. "I reinstated Christmas."  
"Oh?"  
"And we need to buy decorations."

Clint's eyes lit up and he squealed with sheer joy, collapsing down his bow and heading towards the door, bouncing eagerly from foot to foot. Phil shook his head, an indulgent smile on his lips as he headed over towards him and wrapped his arms around Clint once more.  
"We'll need to get a lot of decorations. Stark is handling the lights, but the rest is down to us."

"Got it." Clint grinned brightly, bouncing still and practically skipping out the door. Phil followed close behind to make sure that he didn't go overboard, but he thought that was probably a lost cause.

 

Three days later, and the tree was set up in the middle of the living area, a pile of presents beneath it. Christmas was tomorrow, but Bruce and Steve had spent most of the afternoon in the kitchen preparing for cooking dinner, while Tony and Thor had been putting up lights.

Now, the team were around the giant evergreen which Thor had selected, boxes of decorations around their feet.

"Seriously Hawkbutt?" Tony asked, holding up a red bauble with golden glitter and blue gems dotted above it. "You got themed ornaments?"   
"I got two sets of themed ornaments." Clint answered, digging through the box until he pulled out some brightly coloured baubles with cartoon versions of their faces on one side, and their Avengers’ outfits on the others.

"I'm not...sure about these?" Bruce murmured, poking the Hulk ornament with a finger.  
"I like them." Tony answered. "Let's put ourselves onto the tree then."  
"Deal." Steve reached for his own one with a soft smile. 

"Agent doesn't have one." Tony murmured.  
"Yeah, he does." Clint held up a plain bauble and picked up a black pen, starting to sketch the SHIELD logo on one side, and the suit on the other. "Can't leave him out, you know?"  
"Course not." Tony answered, squeezing his shoulder gently.

Phil felt himself relaxing, smiling at the team. It had definitely been worth it.


End file.
